to help us to understand and deconstruct capitalism in order to create a sustainable and peaceful social system.

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

How Billionaires Use Non-Profits to Bypass Governments and Force Their Agendas on Humanity

As wealth becomes concentrated in fewer and fewer hands, the billionaire class is increasingly turning to foundations and non-profits to enact the change they would like to see in the world. Amid the rise of philanthrocapitalism, growing numbers of critics are raising serious questions about whether this outsized influence is doing more harm than good.

Of course it's doing much more harm than good! Billionaires only do good when it is in their interest to "do good". Unless you believe what is good for billionaires is good for us ordinary people, then you must conclude that their "do-gooding" is really doing good for themselves. Surely Lazare hasn't forgotten the capitalist credo (as expressed by Margaret Thatcher) which says:

...there is no such thing as society. There are individual men and
women, and there are families. .... It's our duty to look after
ourselves....

NGOs (non-profit organizations in foreign countries are typically referred to as "NGOs or non-governmental organizations) have been used abroad to organize movements to destabilize and change the regimes of countries that the Empire doesn't like (think of all the "color revolutions" or Ukraine), whereas in this country the capitalist directorate uses them to lobby Congress and to attack targets that get in the way of their interests by using litigation. For an example of the latter, see this. Foundations are often used to filter money through to media that promote their interests or to corrupt alternative media. Regarding the latter, read this.